Chelsea were accused of 'a crime against football' for facing Manchester City without a striker... but what is the precedent for such a defensive formation and might it catch on?

Daily Mail | March 5, 2018

Jamie Redknapp called it ‘a crime against football’, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte playing for 78 minutes of Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Manchester City without a striker.

The Sportsmail columnist was not alone in his condemnation of the tactic, which yielded zero shots on target.

However, in a sport where the formation of 4-4-2 has long since been considered the default setting, how has it come to this? Here, we take a closer look…

u00a0Chelsea boss Antonio Conte played for 78 minutes of the defeat at Man City without a striker — Chelsea boss Antonio Conte played for 78 minutes of the defeat at Man City without a striker

Sportsmail columnistu00a0Jamie Redknapp called it u2018a crime against footballu2019 andu00a0was not alone — Sportsmail columnist Jamie Redknapp called it ‘a crime against football’ and was not alone

Conte's controversial tactic yielded a 1-0 defeat and zero shots on target for Chelsea

Why did Chelsea cause so much offence?